The Clothes Whisperer: the fashion blog with wit that sparkles

WhisperViews: Beast of Burden

2012-01-27T14:00:00.000Z

When I was in Milan last week, Alistair Guy took me along to meet an old mate of his, Richard Taylor, who together with his partner, Virginia Chairelli, heads up what seems to me to be the world's first ethical AND affordable crocodile accessories label, Beast of Burden.

Beast of Burden is a croc-only company that has brought the extremely pricey exotic skin to a new age group and price bracket. Starting at around £2,000 for a large tote bag (as opposed to the same price for say, a wallet), the Beast's designs are young, trend-lead and totally useable (what is the world's first crocodile snap bracelet!!).

Lined with African printed textiles and hardwired with oversized zips recalling a metallic version of a croc's gaping maw, Beast of Burden has successfully managed to retool crocodile for the masses. But rather than myself continue to wax lyrical about the brand, I'll let one half it's mastermind, Richard Taylor himself, tell you all about it.

NB All pictures courtesy the Beast's Blog...that is to say, from Richard and Virginia's African adventures!

The Clothes Whisperer: A little about you, your background...

Richard Taylor/ Beast of Burden: I was designing for Roberto Cavalli in Florence when I met native Italian/Zimbabwean Virginia who was sculpting in the city at the time we got together and she invited me to her home in Africa. We headed out on a road trip across Zimbabwe that Summer (video above!) and stopped by a croc farm and tannery along the way. We immediately felt that we could do something. Fast forward six months and we had imported our first skins into Italy where we put some bags into production. Two years later we have opened our own showroom here in Milan and the BEAST is going into stores around the globe..

TCW: Sustainable croc in your own words...go!

BOB: Its about being responsible with our approach in the sourcing and manufacturing of our bags. We personally go to the crocodile farms in Southern Africa where we check and select every skin we use. We work directly with the indigenous communities that we support through our business and this in turn has wider positive effects on local communities that benefit from this. In addition, nothing is wasted including the crocodile meat which is sold and eaten locally.

TCW: And to the critics you say?

BOB: We are transparent about what we do- see our journey on www.beast-burden.com. We work closely with CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) which is one of the largest conservation agreement in existence and prior to any crocodile being brought into the country approval has to be granted by CITES.

TCW: Some luxury brands used to botox their crocs, why do they do this and why don't you?

BOB: I cant comment on other brands but I do believe that if you can soften skins naturally as we have developed with BEASTofBURDEN without chemicals and artificial treatments it gives a much more real and natural effect which in the end is what we believe customers who seek real crocodile want.

TCW: Craziest croc-encounter anecdote?

BOB: Swimming down the crocodile infested waters of the Zambezi river in Zimbabwe!

TCW: How are you able to keep your costs down? Croc is normally so so expensive!

BOB: I thought this was the clothes whisperer not Business week!? No, seriously crocodile is the absolute in luxury and it will always command a certain price. We are able to source, select and tan real Nile crocodile directly from Africa making us more competitive without substituting on quality as all our bags are hand made by Italian artisans whose craftsmanship is renowned worldwide. It is this unique combination that makes what we do so so special!

TCW: Why go into croc as opposed to skins/leathers in general?

BOB: Nile Crocodile is the most precious and luxurious skin in the world. BEASTofBURDEN distinguishes itself by being an only Nile crocodile bag brand, hand made in Italy yet with a relaxed style and laid back approach to design that makes this traditional luxury accessory look and feel really modern.

TCW: Can you recommend some off-the-beaten path spots for visiting Zimbabwe?

BOB: When in Harare an absolute must is ‘Wild is Life’, animal sanctuary run by local conservationist Roxy Danckwerts where you can play with the cheetah’s and enjoy high tea amongst the antelopes.

For a 1970’s art vibe, check out the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo.

For the best off road canoe safari adventure down the Zambezi river get hold of Stretch Ferreira of Goliath Safaris. He is a Zimbabwean legend.

TCW: What's your favorite part of working with local communities?

BOB: It has been used many times before but ‘trade’ not ‘aid’ really is the future of African development. We work closely with local crocodile farming communities because their passionate and commited to their work. This makes working together a great experience but above all we achieve great results together.

TCW: What's next for the Beast?

BOB: The BEAST continues to grow. We have recently signed a large distribution deal in Asia and will be going into Lane Crawford stores across the continent later this year. This will mean a lot more travel for us and the business but fits perfectly with our philosophy of a global, community based luxury brand.

Andiamo a Roma con Louis Vuitton!

2012-01-27T08:36:00.000Z

I'm in la La Citta Eterna today with Louis Vuitton to celebrate the opening of the Maison Louis Vuitton Roma Etoile (Vuitton's first Maison in Italy), housed in the iconic Etoile cinema. So in the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with a little aperitivo to whet your appetite for Friday's main event. But rather than begin telling you about the intricacies of Vuitton's converted cinema, and how the new flagship will not only preserve the Hollywood heritage of the building, but internalize and revitalize it, I'll share with you this wonderful interview with Peter Marino, Vuitton's master architect for whom Etoile is his newest born.

Q: What makes thi setting exceptional?
A: Once upon a time there was a cinema built in the beginning of the XXth century, whose front was intact. The story begins like this... Louis Vuitton asked us to make reference to the glorious past of the cinema Etoile while also undertaking a major renovation. It is the kind of challenge I love – precise and fascinating from a conceptual and an architectural point of view.

Q: How did you design the project?
A: We drew our inspiration from the world of cinema to design this store. The first thing one sees upon entering the store is a piece by artist Dokoupil who works using hundreds of strips of film. Customers then continue through a frame-like structure bearing images of the history of Roman cinema. It is a way of taking customers out of their everyday world, and into an exceptional environment.

Q: What are the key words that describe this achievement?
A: Speed, movement, light and film. From the entrance, a large six-metre screen will be visible. It will be possible to watch anything from short films, documentaries, or even creations by video-director artists. The store really will be the only one of its kind in the world.

Q: How is it set out?
A: The ground floor is dedicated to leather goods, leather taking prime position. The basement is reserved for men. The monumental and elliptical staircase leads from here up to the first floor where the women’s collections are to be found, including ready-to-wear, jewellery, shoes, and the cinema screen as the finishing touch.

Q: Does the staircase have a special role in this layout?
A: Rome is a baroque city. As an artist, if I want to make the spirit here baroque, I need to interpret it in a modern way. This is why I created this staircase in the form of a calyx; it is unique in the world. The one I created for the Louis Vuitton Maison on New Bond Street is totally straight; the one in the Maison on the Champs-Elysées is very different with the big escalator. The one in the New York 5th Avenue store is brutally logical, inspired by a gridline system which recalls the grid pattern layout of the city.

Q:...and in rome?
A: I played with the architecture of the staircase. I made an enormous hole in its centre and steps of different widths to make it elliptical. It is not a perfectly round Renaissance-style, nor does it have a modern shape. It is alternately thick then thin, and then changes again. It is baroque-shaped, very uneven, highlighted by a luminous strip that runs under the stairs like a strip of film.

Q: What are the main principles of the sophisticated architecture of Rome Etoile?
A: Three key factors were at the basis of the creation. The lobby with the photo gallery which retraces the history of cinema, the baroque staircase in the form of a calyx which calls to mind the architecture of the city, and the presence of a cinema on the first floor which acknowledges the history of the venue. All of this in a Louis Vuitton store. For me, that is the spirit of Rome.

Q: In your opinion, is a store made to last, in the same way a monument is, or is it rather a short-lived creation, following fashion and therefore destined to fall into decline?
A: I like the fact that stores last a generation. I don’t like trendy places, which are subject to the diktats of fashion. Once the effect of surprise has worn off, two or three years later they look dated! It is very unpleasant when something is so old- fashioned that in a glance it can be seen as belonging to a specific era. On the other hand, I also don’t like the idea of a concrete creation, built to last forever. I like the changing nature of my creations. But what I am most proud of is when a store I have designed lasts a generation without ever going out of style.

We Like To Party: Casa Missoni & Then Some, Milan

2012-01-26T18:00:00.001Z

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Missoni Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-26T16:00:00.001Z

Things were easy-going at Missoni's Autumn/Winter 2012 menswear collection, focusing on their core DNA as a knitwear brand resplendent in neutrals and rich earth tones first and foremost. The collection had a tinge of British countryside in the air, where motorcycle jackets and other garments key to classic English sportswear were given a Missoni zig-zag twist.

Tartans, houndstooth, Prince of Wales check fabrics and traditional Cornish fishermen knitwear inspired the cardigans, parkas and jackets constructed of boiled wool and panelled with signature Missoni knits. There was something very boyish about it all, the layers, the toggle coats, the clash of heritage plaid with classic Missoni...the oversized and big-billed felt pseudo-baseball caps. The two and three button jacket dominated and Missoni gracefully sidestepped the more formal double breasted, which cropped up on most of Milan's menswear runways.

The Way We Wore Flashback NYFW: Tutti Frutti

2012-01-26T10:00:00.000Z

Photo by Phil Oh

WhisperCrush: Bags In Progress, NYC

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000Z

Inside Chiharu's Bag In Progress

I love Japanese people. That is, of course, a very unbiased statement, but there it is nonetheless. The facet about my half-culture that I'd like to celebrate today is one aspect of it that I certainly did not pick up in the Hapa gene roulette: the Japanese obsession with organization--everything in it's proper place versus my approach of everything in it's proper place...on the floor. As part of this love of neatness, there also exists a curious Japanese affinity for bags within bags, the perpetual zen recycling of all walks of bag (this gene I definitely got). I've even seen top-notch Japanese editors toting canvas totes from two seasons ago on the front row, bless their sustainable hearts.

Let me tell you a little story about the recycling of bags, "auxuilary bags" as Mamma Whisperer and I like to call them. Growing up, Mama Whisp was, true to stereotype, a feng-shui expert slash neat freak and I was a bumbling American child who was perpetually throwing off the "energy of the house" with my piles of toys and later clothes springing up in all my designated areas of the house and my senseless clodding about indoors with shoes (the horror).

But back to the bags within bags. One respect in which Mamma Whisp was not ruthlessly zen was in the practice of recycling shopping bags, keeping pretty much every and any decent sized and decent papered carrier (and you can imagine how much we shopped) and hoarding them in one crammed corner of her closet, literally an archive of shopping bags dating back to the heyday of Gianni Versace himself and annexes one to her purpose daily to hold things like umbrellas, a spare pair of flats, etc. And to my horror, as I find myself getting older, I've noticed that I too have begun to do the same with fashion freebie canvas totes, a shameful sky-scraper of a stack rising steadily in one corner of my entranceway, as that Japanese-bag-recycling gene begins to kick in.

So when I was home for Christmas and hanging out with Mamma Whisperer's bff, a lovely East Village neighbor of hers called Chiharu, and she told me about her accessory label, Bags In Progress, or better yet, showed me, my Japanese half went into hyperdrive. Bags In Progress' purported mission statement is to "provide better bags for a modern lifestyle," and that is exactly what they have done. The designs are simple, materials raw and organic (heavy-duty canvas, for example), but it is the inside where it's all going on. The simple exteriors belie the wealth of functional detail concealed within. Every detail and size of each bag is placed with purpose, and materials are carefully chosen to fit each function--for example, Chiharu is currently working on discipline-specific bags, with specially designed pockets and pouches for photographers, architects and (hopefully, hint hint) fashion bloggers. Based on the philosophy of classic American accessory designs, all styles can be folded flat for easier travel and less room to be stored, and each piece is designed to be layered with another to serve further function.

My Wang Rocco "in progress"

But what really got me was Chiharu's novel creation of bags designed to be bags within bags. Oh yes, Mamma Whisp is getting excited now. That is to say, a trio of little canvas velcro-shut pockets, numbered 1 (for your sunnies), 2 (for your make up bits) and 3 (for you big bits) that you place as subdividers within your own tote to make some sense of the chaos that lives beneath your zipper. So simple an idea, I am shocked no one's done it before, and so inherently Japanese. Suffice it to say, all my totes are now "In Progress," the first concerted effort I have ever made to organize my handbag and I'm finding the little pouchettes allow me to swap purses daily without doing stupid things like, leave keys/phone/wallet in yesterday's purse. Now that, ladies and bloggermen, looks like progress to me.

For stockist info etc email Chiharu at info@bagsinprogress.com

Bloggers' Delight: Krazy 4 Karl at Net-a-Porter

2012-01-25T13:34:00.000Z

On Monday, I walked all the way across the Holland Park roundabout in order to join my friends at Net-a-Porter in a cheeky preview of Karl Lagerfeld's new Karl Kollection (sorry, Kardashians, there's a new "K" alteration in town and I'm pretty sure Karl beats Kim any day).

Champers aside, what bloggers' event would be complete without a wee stitch of hair, makeup and style n' shoot? Surely not a NAP one! So I hope you like the little looksy I put together with the discerning eye of Alistair Guy (and by discerning I mean politely urging me away from all the sequins) and the kollection in general. If I do say so myself, the attachable collars--excuse me, kollars--are a cheap and fun update to any rocker chic's wardrobe. To that extent, I've now got two ;)

Karl goes live on Net-a-Porter today...bits to look out for include the kollars, sequin gym shorts, an army of tees, leatherette denim and metallics aplenty.

PS The shoes (one pair pictured here) are also surprisingly as comfortable as they are cool.

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Salvatore Ferragamo Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-25T13:23:00.000Z

The Salvatore Ferragamo man was well-groomed and sophisticated as ever for Autumn/Winter 2012. Minimalist and urban, black and white snapshots of a city skyline served as the collection's primary inspiration and translated in the grey and midnight palette and constructed tailoring. The word to reach for is "sharp" with "contemporary" not far behind. There was ample use of traditional luxury fabrics, printed velvets, cashmere, double-sided woollen cloth, alpaca weaves alluding to ponyskin and bouclé effects resembling fur.

Playful graphics enlivened knitwear detailed with architectural geometrical necks and worn layered contrasting tailored shirts. Patterns alluded to artists’ canvasses in progress, re-inventing heritage prints like houndstooth and herringbone by breaking them, producing never-ending trompe l’oeil effects that echo the Autumn/Winter 2011 womenswear offerings.

For evening, the Ferragamo man slides effortlessly into the opalescence of velvets, in shades of blue and red and experimenting with the subtly eccentric elegance of outsize moiré. He even dons an electric blue tuxedo worthy of Mr. Bond himself as well as a collarless jacket with grosgrain detailing, sophisticated cufflinks or jewel buttons and a signet ring. He is an effortless creature of the masculine metropolis, with a wardrobe every bit as slick as his impeccably gelled hair.

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Jonathan Saunders Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-25T11:38:00.001Z

Jonathan Saunders launched his first standalone menswear collection in Milan last week. Consisting of 22 looks, Saunders' signature use of bright color and dizzying prints were carried over in full force, creating a collection whose aesthetic could best be described as Missoni-meets-Marni with a bit of London edge thrown in.

Saunders' new take on menswear staples include four button suits, knits, waffle knit bombers, classic polos with cutaway collars and slim leg trousers. And while he's still got a ways to go in his mastery of menswear, the offerings from Saunders mark a welcome injection of contemporary color and cut into a sector that, at least this season, has a penchant for taking the practice of dress a bit too seriously.

To probe deeper inside Jonathan's creative process, head to Grazia.it and check out a great interview my friend Delphine did with Jonathan...on yours truly's Flipcam ;)

Outfits & Atmosphere: Berlin Fashion Week

2012-01-25T09:55:00.000Z

Special thanks to Mercedes Benz and Yellow Door PR

Berlin Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2012-Part 1

2012-01-25T08:49:00.001Z

Last week, courtesy the gracious folk from Mercedes Benz, I staged a return to Brandenburger Tor, hitting up my second installment of Berlin Fashion Week for a short but sweet 36 something hours. In one day, we saw four shows, all part of the Mercedes-sponsored on schedule offerings and taking place in the main venue: Schumacher, Kaviar Gauche (which I will review separately), Laurel and Rena Lange.

It seems to me, after two seasons now in Berlin, that the city's fashion aesthetic, is a bit like its most infamous vestigial landmark, the wall that fell, dividing the city into two distinct halves. Just like Berlin retains the two different traffic sign men as talismans of those divided days, so do the city's designers seem to fall in two two camps--one with hats, and one without. On side of German fashion, you have folk like Hugo Boss, Escada, Schumachers etc, who play it traditionally conservative and lack that youthful spark needed nowadays to catapult a designer into the beating heart of the zeitgeist, but still keep their faithful clients coming back season in, season out.

The target costumer is fashion's pre-recession consumer-of-yore, she is older, financially established and doesn't like to rock the fashion boat too much. She has her silhouettes and shapes tried, tested and true, and is only looking to update with a new print or accessory (think: jewel tone satin suiting accented with fox stoles and collars). She is an industrious German who has weathered the downturn, she has money to burn just as she did pre-crash, for her, things haven't changed all that much.

But then on the flip side, you have young, trendy Berlin, designers like Patrick Mohr, Michalsky, Vandevorst, and Noir, who cater to a different generation of Germans. They deconstruct like their Belgian neighbors, look to all-black and more edgy palettes like the forlorn French and generally imbue their collections with the same artistically sinister quality that permeates the city and the youth who frolic there for just that reason. The other sentiment one picks up on very much in Berlin is that this is a city still in progress--it is still healing, rebuilding, a new generation is finding it's voice in a post-wall 21st century, and this is very much echoed amongst the echelons of the new guard of German designers.

But at the end of the day, this clash of aesthetic is what makes for an autonomous fashion industry--divisions and diversity, something for every market. Division means that German fashion, Berlin fashion in particular, is indeed finding its own autonomous voice, breaking with a past that looked towards whatever was transpiring across the way in Paris and emerging with a new, hell, it's a German word, so let's use it, zeitgeist, all unto itself.

Schumacher

Laurel

Rena Lange

A big thank you to Mercedes Benz and Yellow Door PR for having me along!

We Like To Party: Tod's No_Code Party - Hotel Amour, Paris

2012-01-24T12:30:00.000Z

Bummed to have missed this smashing Tod's event (not to mention editor-fest galore) in Paris last night for the launch of their No_Code is inspired by the visionary Jefferson Hack. Thank god there are press releases to fill us in, here's what is says:

Diego Della Valle with Jefferson Hack hosted an exclusive evening to celebrate the launch of Tod’s No_Code Collection. Tod’s Artisanal craftsmen and Design Team worked with Jefferson to develop a streamlined product in which the extraordinary craftsmanship of Tod’s meets influences from the worlds of music, art and cinema. Tod’s heritage values - fine quality, attention to detail, authenticity, the essence of ‘Made in Italy’- become the perfect allies of a modern, refined and versatile style.

Born by Jefferson’s desire to develop a perfect shoe for both men and women, Tod’s No_ Code collection breaks with convention, respects no boundaries between night and day and is untethered to the formal codes of dress or casual attire - for the 24-hour, on-the-move global nomad who works and lives without boundaries. Tod’s No_Code is a modern yet timeless collection that represents the intuitive and spontaneous style of Made in Italy.

The charismatic Hotel Amour became home to Tod’s No_Code for the evening with exhibition, live mise-en-scene and music by DJ’s Jonjo Jury and Yasmina Dexter setting the pace for guests including Diego and Andrea Della Valle, Jefferson Hack. Prisca, Jenna, Claire and Virginie Courtin, Anna Dello Russo, Livia Firth, Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Franca Sozzani, Suzy Menkes.

The Way We Wore Flashback PFW: Mon Chapeau, Mon Cherie

2012-01-24T11:30:00.001Z

Photo by Wayne Tippets

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Calvin Klein Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-24T10:39:00.000Z

Italo Zucchelli has distilled the Calvin Klein menswear brand to a t. With his Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, Zucchelli perfectly harmonized the luxury-loving aesthetic of his Italian sartorial heritage with an American, specifically New York, affinity for the practical, the functional and the sports luxe. A clean collection of more formal pieces dressed down (tieless, crisp white shirts were worn with almost every look) and more casual pieces dressed up (alligator-trimmed hoodies, backpacks, bomber and baseball jackets), the Calvin man this season is a corporate jock.

The palette was comprised of neutrals and monochrone, classically modern Calvin minimalism with the volume turned up at the level of fiber and fabric. Outerwear was at once voluminuous and sporty, puffas and parkas rendered in high-tech materials and trimmed with leather or alligator.

Aside from the integration of exotic skins to everyday garments, a pixelated technicolor print mimicking the flickering of Manhattan's city lights in puddles after an evening-rainstorm spoke to register of highly-focused attention to detail and a brand that looks, however subtly, to continually reinforce its iconically American status despite the glossy Milanese show venue. But on the flipside, Zucchelli is after all an Italian, and so, a suit rendered completely in a midnight blue alligator stole the show. If any man can pull off this luxe-style statement without coming across as way-too-over the top, the Calvin man can.

Bloggers' Delight: Mafalda86, Milano

2012-01-24T10:35:00.000Z

No one has fashion, true FASHION, coursing through her chic veins like my longtime friend and fellow journalista, Delphine Hervieu of Grazia.it. So when Delphine insists that you spend your only 40 free minutes between shows for the day popping into a tiny un-signposted spectacle shop, you know before even putting one wedge through the door, that you will walk away wanting something you didn't even know you needed and certainly can't afford. Thus it was with Mafalda86, a small little store near Milano's trendy Navigli neighborhood, where the owner Vittorio Sebastiani (who makes everything by hand, by the way) is in store to meet and greet customers, helping them choose their perfect pair of fashion forward specs.

Alistair Guy, Delphine and I quickly gravitated each towards our favorite pair, our optical-options revealing much about our innate personality quirks. Signore Guy selected a pair of square tortoise shells, the exact same ones donned by none other than Woody Allen (read: creative, artsy kind of dude). Delphine opted for some "twisty" black frames which, in truth, only a bleached pixie-cut Parisienne could pull off (read: avant garde in her soul) where I fell in love with some nerdy glasses, crafted from fifty year old tortoise shell, and about 3/4 the size of my face (read: bookworm who never grew up).

And while the lenses were a bit out of our budget, Vittorio was kind enough to take pity on a band of swooning fashionista/os and gifted us each one of his super innovative frame-jewellery. Strands of beads with skulls that you slip on to your glasses or, as in the case of my gift, a gold strand which can double as librarian spectacle string or chunky necklace. Grazie mille a Vittorio!!!

Mafalda86

86, VIA N. SAURO

Ph. 085.8026925

19, VIA TORTONA

Ph. 333.8549929

Email: info@mafalda86.it

Hot off The Press Release: KCD Digital to Launch Worldwide Industry Platform for Online-Only Fashion Shows Exclusively for Press and Buyers

2012-01-24T10:20:00.000Z

The digital miracle known Fashion GPS has been around, making everyone's life easier (minus hardbound hardcopy-ticket-ridden LFW, of course) for a while now. So it was only a matter of time before PRs took the next step, integrating the industry-specific-organizational tool with the live-screening mania that has overwhelmed runways ever since Lee McQeeun decided to broadcast Plato's Atlantis to the world in 2009, prompting folk like Hilary Alexander to quip that video, and not cobalt blue, is in fact the new black. Now, top-notch PR KCD has created an entirely digitized industry-specific experience, encouraging editors and buyers to do what becomes so tempting some time around Week 3 in Paris. That is, swap the heels and the blogggers' walk for room service and a terry cloth robe, stay home and stream the shows from the comfort of one's one hotel room.“This online experience will replicate the pureness of a live runway show,” says KCD-head-honcho Ed Filipowski, “the only thing this doesn’t give you is the glass of champagne. Bring your own.” My old editor at the FT, Vanessa Friedman has done a great piece here, otherwise, see below for the details straight from the PR's mouth:

New York- Monday January 23, 2012 -- Fashion Week is imminent, with hundreds of shows spread over four weeks in as many cities. Each season, industry professionals struggle with a calendar so crowded that it’s impossible to see everything, and increasingly difficult to view even those offerings you are curious, or even passionate, about.

Now there is a new solution to this dilemma: KCD is pleased to introduce Digital Fashion Shows, a new highly creative digital platform launching during February New York Fashion Week. Founded by KCD Digital and developed in partnership with King & Partners, this platform is an innovative information delivery system that provides a third way—along with runway shows and presentations—to deliver crucial fashion information to editors, journalists, and retail executives.

"The Digital Fashion Shows platform provides all the information and materials needed to review, cover and potentially buy the collection, just like a physical show, but each of the invited guests has a front row seat and behind the scenes access at their fingertips, “ says KCD Co-President Ed Filipowski. “It is a true service to the entire industry, meeting the needs of the press and buyers in a modern way.”

How will this exciting advance work? It is in fact beautifully simple. Invited guests will log on to www.digitalfashionshows.com using a password, to watch a show that will begin at a specific time, exactly like a physical runway show. At the appointed hour, the pre-taped runway show will be viewable to whatever screen is most convenient for you—computer, iPad, or iPhone, making it possible to experience the collection‘s debut wherever you find yourself—in the office, en route to another catwalk show, or even in the comfort of your own home (where your colleagues can’t see what you’re wearing!)

This platform is not available to the public, it is designed by KCD to be a tool for invited press and buyers. Run of show information will appear with each look where you can select your personal “Favorites” or type notes about your selections. Photographs can also be viewed of each look providing front, back and detail shots of shoes, jewelry and accessories.

Curious about a designer’s influences and inspiration? A video is provided where he or she discusses the ideas behind the collection. Need bio and credit information? It is a click away. Important for you to describe beauty looks? The site provides all the hair and makeup details you may require, including product particulars.

Materials including images and transcripts are downloadable and printable, and the show video will be downloadable and embeddable: a one-stop approach meant to save crucial time and make the challenges of covering the runways more manageable and thus inevitably more pleasurable. Additionally, and unlike a livestream, the show is not ephemeral, the website and show video will be available to be replayed and revisited by press and buyers at any time after its initial debut.

Ed Filipowski says that Digital Fashion Shows will exhibit the same renowned commitment to excellence that has been the hallmark of the agency throughout its venerable history. “We are fashion purists and we believe in the runway show. It is not a replacement for traditional shows, but an additional service for the industry. It will have the same integrity and pureness of the runway experience.”

Whisperer's Edit: Pre-Fall 2012, Part 1

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000Z

These days, it's pretty much is fashion week all the year round. Nevermind the couture shows kicking off in Paris right this moment on the tailend of the city's menswear which nipped at the heels of Milan which crossed over with Berlin and Rio, the pre-fall ready-to-wear collections have run alongside their calendar counterparts, with the last of it just wrapping up now. The point is, collections are subdividing like eukaryotes in heat--spawning into minimum six-times-yearly affairs, with the interim mini-seasons (Resort and Pre-Fall) claiming an increasingly more important stake in it all (check out Vanessa Friedman's take at the FT here). So after a considerable bit of back and forth, I've decided to whip up a wee edit of Pre-Fall in three parts (because there's SO damn much!), collating my favorite collections topped off with just a dash of commentary. But here's the question I'd like to put to you, do you think Pre-Fall is more an indicator of what designers picked up from the preceding Spring/Summer season or a taster of what's to come in February?

All images from Style.com

3.1 Phillip Lim

For his Pre-Fall 2012 collection, Phillip Lim looked to superheroes for inspiration. Kitschy prints and supersized silhouettes, loosely cut trousers and reversible outerwear were particularly strong. Geometric sheer beading was contrasted against rougher knits and leathers, as if the girls had spliced two wardrobes (an alias quotidian and supernatural, perhaps?).

Acne

Acne was working on further pushing their artistic minimalistic aesthetic, mixing colors in Pop Art palettes, introducing clear PVC and a hint of S&M. Contemporary and clean but with a dark side peeking through, just like Sweden itself, no?

Alexander McQueen

For the first time since taking the reigns at the House of McQueen, Sarah Burton has ventured down some of Lee's darker thematic paths, looking towards Fall 2007 and Fall 2006, which was the answer to his debut "Highland Rape" shocker, Sarah took out the tartan at last. Dresses were veiled in lace, suiting was exaggerated, with raised hips and overly-emphasized peplums, distorting the female form in a way which Lee would have highly approved of. If this is the direction in which her February show will take, a marked tentative first step back into Lee's world of darkness, but Sarah's way, I simply can't wait.

Alexander Wang

Still stuck on an athletic bent, Wang's pre-fall looked to the precepts of menswear, both its fabrics and its strict tailoring, to inform his aesthetic. Slightly smartened up from spring, there were plenty of separates and shifts that will make great additions to any working woman's wardrobe, but other harbingers of the workout, like mesh, unfortunately still abounded. Booties or no, I am definitely of the opinion that mesh is one material that should remain in one's gym bag as opposed to one's Rocco.

Alice + Olivia

Something I did not know about Alice + Olivia before sitting down to a lovely lunch with them in New York a few weeks back was that the brand perhaps known best now for their go-to-girly-partywear was first and foremost all about the trouser. So with this Parisian-themed pre-fall collection, designer Stacey Bendet adamantly emphasized her "return to the pants," which appeared in a myriad of fabrics and cuts, from the super-skinny and printed to the flowing and bold wideleg.

Balenciaga

If anyone doubted that a sort of 90's/Pomo attitude would be on designers' brains for the forthcoming season, Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesquière's pre-fall collection was the primary colored plastic stamp that sealed the deal. Claiming the late seventies and early eighties as his starting point (which also coincides with the V&A's pegging of the start of the postmodern era), Ghesquière went all out, embracing brash colors and retro prints, clashing textiles, prints and voluminous silhouettes. There were teddy boy jackets tied round models' waists, turquoise track pants and 80's exaggerated tailoring.

Celine

Phoebe Philo's done it again, that is, create an updated trouser silhouette that everyone will rush to imitate come February, but everyone will know that Phobe was there first. This season Celine's statement is all about oversized chic, the show's opener was a sack of a black coat, cut generously throughout the body and sleeves, it's excess bulk only matched by the spillage of fabric sticking out beneath the constituted the model's trousered-legs.

DVF

It was back to her 1970's origins for DVF Pre-Fall 2012. A mash up of mod brightly colored prints (an overzied houndstooth looked particularly lush), mini-skirts and go-go boot combinations, a punk DIY-aura was added to the looks in the form of studding and chains.

Outfits & Atmosphere: MMFW AW12-Day 2

2012-01-23T14:43:00.000Z

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Les Hommes Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-23T14:00:00.002Z

If there was a discreet yet palpable nonetheless French underpinning to much of the smartness invested into the menswear we saw last week in Milan, it certainly reached its apex in the collection of Tom Notte and Bart Vandebosch, who returned the aptly named Les Hommes brand to the runway after a hiatus. Everything a stylish gent a la Parisienne should be, masculine although his clothes are super fitted, chic though his knits are chunky, and of course, perpetually accented with a beret.

As with much of the menswear on display last week, texture presented itself as the trend to beat, and mixing of materials high and low, everyday and luxury set a precedent for elegance and a certain formality despite the casualness of the pieces.

At Les Hommes, this played itself out magnificently at the level of knitwear, where an inspiration nod to the mountains of Peru resulted in models swaddled in layers of cunky, colorful sweaters veined with double helix-knit cables layered with substantial scarves or yet another sweater. In terms of outerwear and tailoring, layers of texture were added to camel-hair baseball jackets in the former of python sleeves, leather trousers or shearling coats reimagined in mink.

Editor Watch: The Two Annas, Milan Menswear Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-23T13:18:00.000Z

Anna Dello Russo and Anna Piaggi front row at Versace Menswear Autumn/Winter 2012

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Roberto Cavalli Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-23T12:30:00.000Z

The Roberto Cavalli man for Fall Winter 2012 kept it smart, going on a roadtrip of unprecedented slickness, you know, the kind that requires some sort of fancy BMW motorcycle and a hot blonde attached to the back.

A black and white chevron motif adorned the runway and was replicated on the back of python jackets, it's effects also mimicked trompe l'oeil black and white suiting. Debonaire as ever, with an arsenal of skinny suiting with the odd daring yellow or floral print to keep things exciting.Leather trousers, leather jackets and exotic skins transposed onto prints, nobody ever accused the Cavalli man of taking a fashion day off. That is until, I suppose, the finale, when the models emerged en masse, having reached their south of the border destination. And what does the Cavalli man pack for just such a trip? Why a stash of understated black ponchos, of course.

Man Whispers: Milan Mens Fashion Week-Tods Autumn/Winter 2012

2012-01-23T11:55:00.000Z

Tod's Men’s Fall-Winter 2012 collection was presented as always, in the stunning Villa Necchi, which, with each ensuing presentation, feels more and more like my own personal Milanese palazzo. Come womenswear in February, they may find me setting up camp indefinitely in one of the numerous upstairs bedrooms. But back to the matter at hand, Tod's new season's collection, which saw the introduction of the new "Greg" (as in Peck) moccasin, a formal shoe with a lightweight rubber sole for the man who is at once classically elegant and modernly practical.

Enriched with the most innovative technologies, Tod’s artisanal expertise when it comes to ready-to-wear is continuously developing, and each season, the suedes feel softer, the lambskins more paper-thin. This season even saw the introduction of an ultra-delicate suede blazer printed
with a fine pinstripe.

Outfits & Atmosphere: Benetton HQ-Treviso, Italy

2012-01-22T10:28:00.002Z

Benetton Autumn/Winter 2012 Runway Show-Treviso, Italy

2012-01-22T09:56:00.000Z

Back in December, I had the wonderful opportunity to join the fine folk at United Colors of Benetton and their 1,500 guests at their headquarters in Treviso to watch newly appointed Creative Director, Mr. You Nguyen, unveil his first collection for the brand.

Before the show kicked off (the runway space was like Benetton meets Mission Impossible, laser-lit in all the colors of the rainbow), guests were shown around the cavernous factory space wherein were displayed blown up images from the brand's past. When the first model hit the runway, it was clear why. Mr. Nguyen looked to the core DNA of the brand, that is, bright, colorful knitwear, in creating his debut collection.

Cross-referenced with a kind of classic 1960's English sensibility (mod color-blocking, oversized check), Nguyen's look to the past to inform his aesthetic was countered by a foray into the future via the use of new fabrics and computerized knitting technologies. Benetton is harking back to its 80's and 90's glory days, where knits were varied, came in every single color of the rainbow and everyone kne it. A return to an emphasis on their craft was evident, as knitting techniques ranged from loosely spun and tie-died mohair to intricate woven cables, for men and women.

Moving way beyond the jumper, trousers, jackets and even a fun assortment of party dresses were executed in the house's signature technique, a fun return to their core amidst a time when fast fashion brands in general seem to be putting too much emphasis on the "fast" and not enough on the "fashion."

My personal favorites included a flirtation with the grunge, a handful of knitted maxi dresses with slashes about the neckline and shoulder, a wideleg plungefront and hooded jumpsuit, metallic oversized space-age knits and a showstopping waffled bubble dress which one can only pray makes it into production.

But perhaps even more revitalizing for the brand than a new creative vision steeped in the rainbow of its archive is Benetton's look towards once again leading the market as the innovator when it comes to knitwear. Uniqlo has cleaned up since the introduction of their Heattech technology, and now the Italians are looking to give them a run for their money. Innovations like the curve-enhaning "pin up" jumper promise to set Benetton on a new course, with this show's rich display of knitting prowess promising that the journey, under Nguyen's command, will be as fashionable as it is functional.

We Like To Party: Dolce & Gabbana La Bella Estate And Then Some

2012-01-20T18:37:00.001Z